My neighbor knocked on the door a few weeks ago and gave me some very disturbing news. She had come to tell me she would be out of town because one of her relatives was sick. She said one of her in-laws (I forget the exact relation) was diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, or the human form of Mad Cow Disease.
She said this man had visited her in Raleigh for June’s Race For The Cure and complained about losing the feeling in his arm. Very soon afterward, he lost the ability to move his entire side. Doctors initially thought he had had a stroke but my neighbor’s daughter is a veterinarian and wasn’t convinced with that diagnosis. She urged that he get a second opinion and as such they found a doctor who willing to consider the CJD diagnosis.
According to the news reports, only one in a million Americans will succumb to this devastating disease each year. It’s a shame my neighbor’s relative appears to be one of them, and it all happened so terrifyingly fast.
I wasn’t aware that this disease was still afflicting Americans as I hadn’t heard much news about it. Looks like I was wrong.